Top scientists demand NSW commit to brumby cull in Kosciuszko national park

Berejiklian government urged to acknowledge ‘the extensive, serious and potentially irreparable damage’ the horses are causing

Lisa Cox

Thu 8 Nov 2018 04.09 GMTLast modified on Thu 8 Nov 2018 04.18 GMT

Dozens of Australia’s top scientists are demanding the New South Wales government repeal legislation that abandoned the culling of feral horses in the Kosciuszko national park.

In Canberra on Thursday 145 scientists met to hear evidence of the damage feral horses are causing to the park, the worst of which includes the destruction of nesting habitat of critically endangered corroboree frogs.

An accord to be presented to the Berejiklian government calls on NSW to acknowledge “the extensive, serious, and potentially irreparable damage” the horses are causing and to cooperate with governments in Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory to remove them using aerial culling.

It says the government must “repeal in its entirety the NSW Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Act 2018, and restore the protected status of Kosciuszko national park, its 2006 plan of management and implement the 2008 horse management plan”.

Jamie Pittock, an associate professor at the Australian National University Fenner school of environment and society, said the government had walked way from decades of cooperation between the science community and governments to protect the national park.

Continued